The Bogside and Brandywell Monument Committee
held a commemoration in Derry this week for nineteen-year-old Colm Keenan and
eighteen-year-old Eugene McGillan, who were shot dead by British
soldiers in the Dove Gardens area of the Bogside on March 14, 1972.

Both men were unarmed when they were killed following a gun battle
between the IRA and a British patrol.

Colm Keenan, a son of veteran Derry republican, Sean Keenan, was
described as a lieutenant in the Derry brigade of the IRA at the time of
his killing. He was also a close personal friend of Martin McGuinness.

Their shootings took place in the last day of the Widgery Tribunal into
the events of Bloody Sunday and it was claimed at the Saville Inquiry by
a former British Army intelligence officer that a group of military
lawyers joined the troops on patrol in the Bogside that night and were
involved in the gun battle.

Three British soldiers were also wounded during the gun battle.

The two young IRA men were taken into houses in the area after they had
been shot. Local residents who attempted to assist the wounded teenagers
insisted that neither was armed despite claims of the British that they
were.

The funerals of both IRA men were held under what was described at the
time as “one of the strictest security operations mounted in Derry since
the Troubles began.”

Colm Keenan was buried with full military honours and his funeral was
attended by more than 8,000 people while Eugene McGillan’s funeral was
private.

Sean Keenan was released from Long Kesh, where he was interned at the
time, to attend his son’s funeral.

Despite the increased security, which included a ring of RUC and
military checkpoints being thrown up around the Bogside and Creggan, IRA
Chief of Staff, Sean MacStiofan, and leading Belfast provisional Martin
Meehan, managed to get into Derry for the funeral of Colm Keenan.

Mac Stiofan was introduced to deliver the oration by Martin Meehan, who
described him as the Provisional IRA Chief of Staff.

In his oration, the IRA Chief of Staff, at the time one of the most
wanted men in Ireland, paid tribute to the two Derry teenagers.

“Two more revolutionary soldiers have given their lives for their
people. Just a few weeks ago 13 sons of Derry were shot dead and this
week we mourn the deaths of two more. Next week, maybe next month, who
knows who will be next?” he said.

He also said that only when Ireland as a whole country had peace could a
proper tribute be paid to the men who died.

A representative of the Derry Command of the Provisional IRA also
delivered an oration.

Speaking to reporters in the City Cemetery, Mr MacStiofan said the pair
were two fine young men who were an outstanding example to all
revolutionaries for their dedication to the cause of Irish freedom.
Their death does not surprise me, as the best and the bravest are the
first to fall.”

Colm Keenan’s coffin was flanked by an IRA guard of honour made of up
men wearing black berets and green combat jackets. The honour guard
included Martin McGuinness who is now the Deputy First Minister.

Thirty members of Cumann na mBan, dressed in uniform, and 15 members of
Na Fianna Eireann also took part in the guard of honour. A volley of
shots was fired over the coffin in the cemetery.

Following the deaths of the two men, the Provisional IRA in Derry
released a statement paying tribute to them.

“They were two of the finest members of the Provisional IRA in the Derry
area. They were close comrades and their deaths are deeply regretted by
all those who are now proud to say they once served with them.

“They were brutally gunned down in cold blood,” the organisation said.

The Derry comhairle ceantair of Sinn Féin said; “After sustaining heavy
losses the British chose to take their revenge on two unarmed men.

“We in Sinn Féin share in the grief and sorrow of their loved ones and
friends and yet we feel proud, proud that we were associated with these
true patriots of Ireland and proud that they, at such an early age, were
regarded as so great a threat to the might of the British army that they
were shot down in cold blood on the streets of their beloved Derry.

“Never as long as we have men of the calibre of Colm and Eugene will
England ever conquer the Gaels.”

Eugene McGillan was a refrigeration engineer with a local firm where his
foreman was Mitchel McLaughlin, later a Sinn Féin MLA. He often spent
his weekends driving his work van to Long Kesh to take relatives to
visit men who were interned. His last words before he died were ‘How’s
Goodly?,’ a nickname he had given Colm Keenan.